March Field Day: Bush Re-gen & Managing Weeds at Home
Time & Location
11 March, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm Cardiff, NSW
About the Event Are you looking to establish a new garden, learn about weed control or bush regeneration for your suburban block? We’ll spend the day at Heidi’s property in Cardiff where we’ll learn how to approach bush re-gen in our own backyards including the different native vegetation communities within the local area, alongside strategies to manage common weeds.
Amy Trello will be there to share some of her knowledge with us. Amy has over 25 years experience in landscaping, natural area restoration, prescribed fire, wild fire and arboriculture. She will talk about some weeds and management techniques and some of the principles of bush re-gen.
We’d love for you to bring samples and photos of the weeds you’re having trouble with (be mindful of seeds!) and we’ll discuss how to recognise and handle them.
We’ll also put our learning into action and give Heidi a hand to do some native planting and get on top of her weeds – so if you’re a HOGS member with more gardening experience we’d love your knowledge for the discussion along with your hands and skills to share with our newer members.
Due to the unfenced waterway we're sorry, but this field day isn’t appropriate for young children.
About Heidi's Place
Heidi and her partner have been at their ½ acre property in Cardiff for two years. Heidi grew up in Hong Kong, a concrete jungle with a green heart and always longed to live on a small property to grow own food and have animals. They were going to buy a suburban house as a stepping stone for the future to buy a property in the Hunter Valley or somewhere coastal, but came across this sizable suburban block and jumped into the opportunity.
When they first arrived there were grass and weeds everywhere - a heaven of privets, camphor laurel, tradescantia, lantana, palm grass and other noxious weeds. The soil was very compacted with years of weed and feed. Since then, they’ve replaced some weeds with natives, planted some fruit trees, started working on a front native garden and cultivated a productive herb garden.
Thanks to the little creek they have, their home is also shared with water dragons and beautiful dragonflies. The creek can break the banks in very wet weather resulting in heavy erosion. Weed seeds are forever being brought down by the water, so we they are trying to plant as many natives as possible.
Self described ‘garden novices’ they had local expert Maree McCarthy visit the property to give them some suggestions where to start. Their 4 chickens and 4 rabbits (foster rabbits from the Rabbit Sanctuary) help to provide organic matters to improve the soil.
Schedule 10:00 Arrive and start the day with a cuppa & morning tea
10:30 Intro talk about suburban weed control and bush re-gen
11:00 Planting and Weeding workshop – we’ll learn techniques by doing and give Heidi a hand to further establish her garden.
12:30 Break for lunch followed by a group chat led by HOGS where we can work together to brainstorm solutions to some of the challenges you have at home. Please Bring Your lunch, a mug for tea/coffee, something to share for morning tea if you’d like, a picnic chair and any surplus produce, seeds or seedlings you'd like to bring for the swap & share table
We’ll be doing some gardening during the day so please wear appropriate clothes, enclosed shoes, bring a hat and sunscreen. If it rains, you might want gumboots and a raincoat.
How to book... You need to be a current (financial) member to book this event. Log into your account (top right of the website) and you'll be able to book via the members only tab or the RSVP link below. Please get in touch with us if you would like to attend but are having any issues booking the event.
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